My First Quilt!

Okay so I finally managed to finish my first "quilt" which is tiny so is now a wall hanging :P  It's  32cm x 32cm and I used the mini charm packs from The Cotton Patch. I sketched loads of different designs until I finally settled on this one. I know it's not perfect and that it could be neater, the fabrics could be arranged better, etc etc but I like it :) The next one will be better (I hope :P).
P.S. it is a little wonky....adds to the character of it ;)

The Beauty of Cut Out + Keep

CO+K is one of my favourite craft websites ever. Incase you don't know it's an online community where you can post how-tos, versions and your own projects, there are boards, a blog and much much more - definately recommend you to check it out :) Anyway, this pencil roll up is based on the pencil roll up how-to from there :) ( http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/pencil_case_roll_up_2 )I made it for a friend using some fabric I had dyed myself and some lace :)

A Heart Within A Heart

So I saw a lot of anatomical designs of heart, lungs, skulls you name it and decided to somehow incorporate it into the black messenger I was making. I randomly came up with the idea of  a heart within a heart partly because I love embroidering hearts (the cartoon type :P) and because at first it was hard to tell that it was ment to be  a heart (I hope you can tell now). I was also into the whole embroidering thing so I added the little robot on the inside pocket to make you smile when you look inside the bag :)  I thought it still looked a bit boring from the outside so added the ribbon on the strap. I had been wanted to try doing something different with my straps  for a while and think I like it :).

Felty-ness (:

The End of the Summer...

So its getting rainier and colder; the summer has come to an end, and what a good one it has been :). Full of sewingy adventures :D. Okay so the local sewing shop had a huge sale on all the leftover summer fabric so I got what I could, and this is the result. I love how the cream bag turned out, especially the handle, it was my first goat using the plastic tubing from U-handbag, an amazing blog and shop (so go check it out :P) It's comfy to hold, flexible but yet still firm enough to support the bag and contents. The bag has a zippy pocket inside and a wide gusset. The second bag is more of an oversized pouch/clutch with a little matching make up bag to go with it. I was tentative about using the two fabrics together, not being able to make my mind up if they go or not, but now I think it was the right decision :D. Let me know what you think :)

Baggy Goodness

So sorry that I havn't blogged in a good 2 months (shocking isn't it?!) but it's been the summer holidays and I've been away for most of them :). I have been busy making bags though, a lot of them which I will show you over the coming weeks :P Right now I am excitedly awaiting a package from The Cotton Patch containing metres of fabric delights :D They will turn into bag goodyness, however I did ordere two mini charm packs (first ever!! :D) in an attempt to kick start my quilting experiences again :P I thought the chances of it going wrong and slighlty smaller if I can be sure the fabric has atleast been cut properly :P We will see how it goes...(maybe you will even catch a glimpse ;)) On another note, there will soon ( I promise!!) be a tutorial up! Wahey!! (btw that is IKEA fabric and I love it! <3)

Prom Here I Come!

I can go to prom! wahey!! You might be a bit confused: I moved from England to Germany 10 months ago but my old school invited me to come back for prom. Yays! However my current school took ages deciding whether I could go or not so I had kinda given up hope...but then one week and 2 days before Prom, they said I can go! So now I'm majorly happy, however there is one big problem: The Dress. I haven't got a dress. At all. So I need to make one "quick". Im thinking of a strapless A-line kinda thing in a dark blue...but I need to see what fabrics I have here and then how much time I have otherwise I might end up finishing it by hand at the airport :P I think I might get a few weird looks...(: Whatever happens I'll post a pic (promise!) :P.

P.S. The picture is of a prom dress I'm loving :)

A Tad of Dressmaking

Okay so this is a pic of my sis (yes, we are twins) wearing a dress I made for her. Christmas and New Year we were in England and she was looking for a dress for a New Year's party. We traipsed round and round but couldn't find any dresses that she liked: wrong pattern; to long; wrong colour; wrong shape etc. I made a detour to Abakhan (gotta love that place) and found this sequin material in the sale, was about 4 pounds for 2 metres? When we got home I started drafting the pattern and then started sewing. I didn't have a sewing machine (it being in Germany and all) so sewed the whole thing by hand. I sewed all night then got up early to finish it before she went off to her friends. Needless to say she was very suprised but loved it :D In the end she didn't wear it but thats another story...

More Tie Dye (:

Okay so heres some pics of the skirt (:. I made it using the Design-It-Yourself book by Cal Patch. I love that book and it's great - definitely recommend it :D. I made the skirt from some white cotton, then dyed some cool chevron stripes into it. I was a bit scared that my time spent sewing might be wasted if I mess it all up whilst dying, but I am pleased to say I didn't and I rather like the final product, even if it is a bit short :P

(P.S. I am aware the shirt totally doesn't go :P)

Tie dye craze

Okay so I have a new obsession:Tie dye! I just love it!! You never know exactly how something will turn out, or what shade it will be, but thats all part of the process and makes it all the better. I didn't have a clue about how to go about it so searched around a bit and stumbled upon this great tutorial: http://wendolonia.com/blog/2009/08/09/tie-dye-tutorial/ . It really helped me and I think it's great (:. So far I have made a red tie dye bag and skirt, a blue tie dye pencil case and top, and have green and purple dye waiting to be used, I can't wait! :D. Thie first picture is a side view of the bag and shows stripes, the second is the back and shows the classic circle pattern.

Summer's Coming!

Huraahh summer is on it's way-finally!! It is starting to get warmer and to the point where jeans aren't comfortable anymore and I realised I don't have any nice skirts. Obviously I need to change that. I dug around a bit until I stumbled upon some turquoise linen my aunt had given me a while back. It was exactly what I needed and so I set to work. I had just bought an invisible zipper foot and was itching to finally use it so decided to just go for it and give it a go. Suprisingly, it worked, the skirt fits and I'm pleased with the outcome. Now when I get home I put on my skirt, twirl around and lay in the sun and chill...pure bliss. I also feel like a hippie when I wear it with anklets on my feet, bangles on my arms, a flower in my hair, running through the grass barefoot...

Many Firsts

It's a time for many first, this is my first blog, my first blog past and it's gonna be about my first attempt at quilting. To prepare I trawled through site after site of how-to's,tips, advice etc until I felt I couldn't learn anymore without actually giving it a shot. Full of optimism, I dug out my scraps, made a template and started cutting. In theory, it was going to be the perfect quilt, small but nice, coordiating colours, contrasting patterns, seams that match up and an intresting pattern. Sewing the blocks together to form a row went smoothly: then I started to sew the rows together. The seams still matched, but the columns were starting to look wonky, yet I blindly thought "once I've run the iron over it, it will be fine". Wrong. As I ironed it the wonkyness of it all just seemed to become even more apparrant (if possible!). In the end i just decided that maybe I wansn't cut out to be a quilter, and for the near future will be sticking to bags :)